Briefly in Bratislava

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Bratislava is the only national capital that's close to the borders of two other countries. Fitting this setup, we came here from Austria today (9/12) and will be in Hungary tomorrow night (9/13). So, wanting to be sure that we post at least once from every country we are visiing, here are some photos from our one-night stay in Bratislava.

Between Vienna and Bratislava we expected to be passing through industrial and urban landscapes, but that was not the case at all. Instead, much of the Danube's shore and side channel area has been preserved and is a national park through which we pedaled for most of the day on a nice trail on top of the dike. The bridge at the last river crossing in Austria is at a site where construction of a dam was decided against due to demonstrations in the mid-1980s.

Just before we crossed the border into Slovakia, the river valley narrowed, and we stopped for lunch in the historicallyand stragetically important town of Hainburg an der Donau. This place boasts the best preserved medieval city wall in Central Europe, with massive gates at the west (Vienna Gate) and east (Hungary Gate) ends of town. During one of their last forays into Austria in the late 1600s, the Turks entred through these, and the 8,000+ townspeople attempted to escape through a third gate towards the river. Unfortunately, the door to that gate opened inwards, and the crush prevented the escape. All but 100 of the people died in that crush or by means of the Turkish scimitars. One of the young survivors was named Haydn, and his grandson was named Joseph. Luckily for all of us the Haydn grandfather survived. There is a Haydn monument and a Haydn fountain in this small town to commemerate this situation.

Being a new nation the Slovaks are full of pride in their country and very friendly to visitors. There are free guided tours of old town Bratislava, and tourists seem to be very much appreciated. The whimsical statues and eclectic architecture of he old town enhanced the feeling of fun and friendliness. The city is working on becoming a center for busines in central Europe. It was sad to see the heavily fenced and fortified US embassy stand out in contrast to the openness and friendliness of this city.

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Photos

Roof of St Martin's Cathederal in Bratislava
The coronation of the Hungarian kings took place here for the century and a half that the Ottomans held Budapest.

Man peering out of manhole cover
One of several whimsical sculptures located in old town Bratislava in order to attract residents and visitors there after the area was rennovated following the end of Communism.

Old building not yet rennovated
Buildings for which ownership has not yet been established, post Communism, have not yet been rennovated.

Another sculpture
A favorite tourist activity is to take photos with these.

Comments

[Weggs]

Cycling
Did you ride along the Danube from Vienna to Bratislava? What was the track like?

[KitKats]

It was a great trail
Vienna to Bratislava was mainly a nice paved trail on top of the dike. Maybe a short bit was gravel, but that was fine. Also a short diversion at one point into surrounding countryside. All i alla great ride, which we easily did in one day.

[D MJ Binkley]

Cool photo
Very cool